Lufthansa splits wide-body order between Airbus and Boeing

Lufthansa Airlines announced its long-expected wide-body order, for 59 Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 777-9Xs. Airbus won a firm order for 25 with options for 25 more. Boeing’s press release didn’t disclose options. This is a big win for… Read More

Busy Week ahead: First flights; and Odds and Ends:Lufthansa to split order; Embraer tells of upgrades

Update, 2:30PM PDT: Boeing confirms that Tuesday is the target day for 787-9 first flight, time TBD and subject to weather and other factors. Update, 3:30pm PDT: Bombardier says 9:30 EDT Monday is the scheduled first flight for… Read More

Odds and Ends: Slowing sales; Airbus in Japan; MRJ delay; Crandall on merger

Slowing Jet Sales: Within a few days, Bloomberg, Reuters and The Seattle Times each had stories about slowing jet sales. Here is the Bloomberg story, focusing on cargo sales. Here is the Reuters story. Here is The Seattle… Read More

Odds and Ends: MAKS summary; Airbus look; A350 launch aid; slow freighter sales

MAKS Air Show Summary: This account summarizes the orders placed at the Moscow Air Show, known as MAKS. It appears only Bombardier among Western OEMs made any commercial deals. Looking at Airbus: Aspire Aviation takes a long look… Read More

Odds and Ends: Lufthansa’s pending widebody order; MRJ v E-Jet E2; MAXimizing space

Lufthansa’s Pending Order: As we have written on previous occasions, Lufthansa Airlines has been preparing a large order for twin-aisle, twin-engine aircraft: 50 or more. We’d noted that the order was likely due in September. Aviation Week has… Read More

Odds and Ends: Boeing’s secret 777X plan; Airbus wins big with British Airways parent

Secret 777X Plan: The Seattle Times reports that Boeing has some secret planning underway for assembly options for the 777X. This involves increasing the automation on the assembly (and thereby reducing manpower) and increasing the production rate to… Read More

A380 has “Lite” versions, too

The announcement by Airbus that it will offer Lite versions of the A330 and A350 families caused a much larger stir than we would have thought. As we previously noted, Boeing will offer a Lite version of the… Read More

Airbus seeks to increase Washington State supply business; aims for 13 A350s/mo

It was the first time that Airbus specifically participated in an event in Washington State exclusively designed to mate the fierce rival to Boeing with suppliers in a meeting intended to increase business opportunities in Boeing’s back yard…. Read More

Ethiopian 787 fire: the day after

Update, 12n PDT: The British Air Accident Investigation Board has issued its first press release. No apparent connection to the APU or batteries, but otherwise a standard we’re-working-on-it statement. Unrelated to Ethiopian: Fascinating animations of the Asiana Flt… Read More

Paris Air Show, Day 3: A320, 737 production rates of 50+ seen

Highlights from the show, as we see it: Boeing said the entry-in-service for the 737 MAX will be accelerated from the fourth quarter 2017 to the third quarter. Southwest Airlines of the USA is the first operator. Bloomberg… Read More